A Voice, Bewitching
by CelticPhoenixProductions
Summary: A haunting song drifts across the midnight sky and leaves Amanda aching for more, only to find herself embroiled in a bit of trouble for her cravings.


_Another tablet writing from work… So… Please forgive the grammar and the spelling… Lord knows that Sucy got changed to 'Such' at some point…_

O/o\O

 _A Voice, Bewitching_

Amanda's lips pinched close, the soft strips of skin having been parted far too long for her liking.

That voice, _that voice_!

She knew she'd heard it somewhere, but it was so much different, so much more elegant and moving. Where had she heard that voice before?

That question had pursued her for weeks now, ever since she started taking these late-night flights to clear her head of all that mush the teachers shoveled into their brains each day. Occasionally, randomly it seemed, she would hear singing drifting through the campus, a haunting melody that just stuck with her _and damnit where had she heard it before_?!

It was transfixing, like a cool spring shower against the skin during a muggy day, and Amanda would be embarrassed to admit that, when out of eyeshot of the academy, she had danced to the ghostly melody in midair, using her broom as a partner in an etherial waltz. It was addicting, enthralling, and every night she went out for a flight she hoped to hear it again, if only dance once more to its somber, languid tempo.

Of course she'd tried finding it, even the first time she'd heard it she knew it'd keep her up at night, but lord help her of she ever succeeded because the blasted singer never seemed to stay in one place. And the same seemed to be true tonight, as Amanda swept by the last three places she thought she'd heard the voice.

They weren't in the school belfry, nor in the garden, nor near any of the spires. It was only when she struck upon the cradel of the philosopher stone did Amanda think she might be onto them; it was the only other place on campus with good accoustics. She angled her broom to the tower, drifting closer to the gently pulsing green light moment by moment. It was only when she heard the voice getting louder, closer, did she know she was onto them.

And then she hit a roadblock.

"O'Neil! What are you doing out at this hour?!"

Amanda winced, knowing _that_ voice almost instinctively.

"Cram it, Cavendish, I'm doing something!" Amanda snapped, turning her broom to face the platinum girl.

"I think not!" Diana huffed, zooming up from where shed been near the base of the tower, "Students being out this late, especially near the stone, is a clear violation of the rules and I must insist you return to your dorm immediately!"

"Look, if it were really that big a deal they wouldn't have one of their best students rolling around at this hour like some kind of glorified night janitor..."

The platinum grip twitched, sneering, "Don't not go demeaning my position, Amanda, this 'glorified janitor' can hit you with any number of demerits."

Amanda paused, biting her cheek. The threat was credible, she knew, and worst of all Amanda had enough demerits that suspension or expulsion were real enough possibilities. But it was only during this contemplation did she realize the singing had stopped and her target probably long gone.

"Tch... Fine, you win this time, Cavendish, but some day you're gonna end up sitting on that stick up your ass and I can only hope I'm there's to see you squirm..." the American growled.

She took off after that, beelining it for her room the minute she touched down at the dorms.

"Lotta friggen good that did me; end up frustrating myself instead of relaxing like I wanted..." the redhead scowled, stomping through her door.

"Oh, you're back Amanda. How was your flight?" Jasminka perked, deftly sliding a chip between her lips without pausing.

"Snoots McGoots caught me, so it wasn't exactly a joyride," Amanda groaned, slamming her face into her pillow.

"Snoots Mc...?" the plump girl hummed.

"Diana," the redhead clarified, he words muffled through the pillow.

"Ohhh... Well, was it fun before she caught you?"

Amanda rolled to her side and stretched, carelessly peeling off her uniform shirt and flinging it onto her desk chair before responding, "...Not really. Guess I just wasn't feeling it tonight."

Jasminka hummed again, glancing over to Constanz, who was busy tinkering with some kind of infernal contraption, "Well Connie's been struggling with her invention all night too. Maybe you girls just need a pick-me-up? Would you two like a jolly rancher?"

Amanda looked up at the offeree sweet, scratching at her exposed belly. Rolling her eyes at how quickly the treat had appeared in her teammate's had, she reached out and grabbed the tightly wrapped rock candy, unscrewing one end of the plastic before plopping it into her mouth entirely.

Watermelon. As bizarre as it was, Amanda was thankful for Jasminka's preternatural affinity for guessing people's favorite flavors. With the sweet and sour flavor rolling around her tongue, she flipped onto her back and stretched, popping her back as the sports bra constricted to the movement.

"So..." Amanda mused aloud, "Do you guys know anyone that can sing?"

Constanz spared a glance but shook her head. Jasminka paused mid-chip and hummed again. The girl hummed a lot. It was both endearing and annoying.

"Lotte Yanson sings, doesn't she?" Jasminka asked.

Amanda blinked. Yanson? The bookish girl with the classes from red team? She hadn't ever really stuck out to the redhead before, usually blurring into the background whenever her teammates Akko and Such got into some mind of shenanigans. But, the more she recollected, the more she realized there was one point where the girl stuck out... The witch parwde, when she sang to relax the sprites attacking the innocent townspeople. In an instant the song she heard every few nights became far more familiar.

"Lotte Yanson?!" Amanda gasped, sitting straight up in her bed. Unfortunately, her mattress was the upper half of a bunkbed and the crown of her head became painfully acquainted with the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" Jasminka asked, standing just a bit of her help was needed.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," the redhead hissed, rubbing her scalp, "Nothing hurt but my pride with that one..."

She glanced over to Constanz, slowly interpreting the girl's confused (and minimally concerned) stare; 'Why are you so riled up about Lotte?'

"It's nothing..." she sighed, leaning back down, "just something that's been bothering me that finally clicked. Thanks guys."

"Glad we could help," Jas smiled.

Constant nodded, though let an irritated glare linger over Amanda's exposed shoulders; 'put on you PJ's, you exhibitionist!'

Amanda chuckled and waved off her friend, sliding off the bed to get changed in the bathroom. Closing the door behind her, she paused.

"Lotte Yanson...? Huh..."

O/o\O

Sadly, her nightly excursions had seemingly come to an end. Diana, now well aware of the American's rule-pushing tendencies, had taken to patrolling the night skies regularly, preventing even the most stealthy of takeoffs; that Brit had a terrifyingly keen eye. Logically, the prefect couldn't keep her attention trained on the sky forever, but with the way Amanda had narrowly dodged the silver girl's patrol on three different accounts she was convinced Diana was somehow cloning herself to be in seven places at once.

This also meant that the only contact she managed to have with the mysterious girl's singing. While she didn't know for sure it had been Lotte out on those still nights, she couldn't deny how similar the two voices were. It was incredible how much had happened during the festival that something as beautiful as the nebbish girl's singing had been overshadowed.

So far, observing the girl hadn't yielded any results towards identifying the singer. Then again, singing voice and speaking voice weren't exactly the same. Take Amanda for example; one of the best speakers to ever live (so decided by her own ego) but probably the worst singer at Luna Nova (so said the Luna Nova choral professor while kicking Amanda out).

So, unable to do much else, Amanda settled in for some harmless stalking. There wasn't anything creepy to it, of course, it was just some shots in the dark to hear the girl sing again and confirm Amanda's assumptions. There were any secretive notes about the adorable way the Finn would wiggle her nose after sneezing, or the dopey smile she got while reading one of those trashy Nightfall novels, or observations on how here eyes were a million times more beautiful without those full-moon glasses of hers. Yup. None of that. Just some good natured, wholesome stalking.

This took place over the course of a few weeks and was made all the easier by how close green team and red team were. The two crews hung out on the regular and while Amanda wasn't afraid to butt heads with Akko, the leaders were more than down to work together if a good time was involved. It also helped in keeping Diana off her back, she supposed, as Akko and Diana were notorious for being at each other's throat.

Yes, the short girl had entrapted Amanda's thoughts for quite some time... Which became a problem when her most recent magical history exam came back with a bold, bright 'F-' circled at the top, with a numerical score that made her feel worse than the letter alone.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me..." Amanda groaned, slamming her head onto her dormroom desk. "I already have enough garbage in my head, how do they expect me to know this AND pay attention to it?"

Constanz, like always, was tinkering on something in the corner and Jasminka was sat upon her bed with an open package of cookies that had already been partially devoured.

"You _have_ been distracted lately..." the portly girl observed.

Constanz caught Amanda's eye and pantomimed an opera singer, grinning as she did.

Amanda growled, "Hey! Leave Lotte out of this!"

"She's right you know, there's no denying she's been distracting you lately..." Jas nodded.

Constanz widened her eyes and slapped on a painfully sarcastic, whimsical smile, cupping her hands to the side as the smile morphed into pursed, kissy lips.

The redhead slammed down her fist, patches of red glowing across her fairer skin, "And what's that supposed to mean?!"

The plump girl chuckled, "I think she's insinuating you like Miss Yanson."

Amanda glared at the lavender glutton, "I know what she meant, Jas! I... I just... Look, I just want to know if she was the girl I heard singing is all..."

Constanz quirked a curious glance, setting down her tools in a rare act of attention.

"Yes, do tell, why are you so obsessed with her singing?"

The American girl groaned, leaning back in her seat with her hands behind her head, "Nosy, aren't you two?"

The mechanic witch pointed to the test paper, in particular the burning red letter on the top of the page, her eyes drawn and scrutinizing.

"Damnit, Connie, stop making sense..." Amanda sighed. She relented, "Fine, fine, the singing reminds me of my dance instructor from back in the States..."

"Oh? You don't talk much about your life back home. She must have been a great instructor if that's where you got your skill from," the candy witch observed.

"Yeah, well, it's a sore subject... And yeah, she was amazing..." Amanda replied, her eyes growing distant. "She was so elegant with the way she could move, and her voice was just... Uhhg!" she fell forward onto her hands, an old pain thumping against her ribcage. "I only knew her for a year but she ended up changing my entire world..."

"This story doesn't sound like it has a happy ending..." Jasminka muttered, loud enough for them all to hear.

"It doesn't," Amanda grunted, raising her head, "She... Got hitched to this guy from New York and they took off on a trip around the world together... I was left behind... And just when I thought I could see some kind of future ahead of me..."

A hand landed on her forearm. She looked over to find Constanz smiling up at her, the expression warm and tender. Another hand landed on her shoulder and she found Jasminka looking over her with her own comforting smile. Amanda smiled back and reached across herself to grip their hands, "Thanks guys, but just so you know I'm already over her."

Constanz mimed her operatic pose again and Amanda frowned.

"Right, right, Lotte... Okay, maybe I'm not one hundred percent over her... But Lotte is someone else entirely..." Amanda nodded. Then she shook her head, "Wait, I never said anything about liking Lotte that way!"

"I mean, technically, neither did Connie," Jas chimmed.

Amanda raised a finger to disagree, only to choke when she realized that she may have committed a Freudian slip.

"Damnit..." Amanda hissed as her face became enflamed. She buried it in her arms, hoping that her ears would at least blend in with her hair so her friends wouldn't be able to mock them. She groaned, "I'm crushing on her big-time, aren't I?"

"I think you are," Jas smiled.

Amanda shot up, slamming her fist to the desk, "That's it! No more moping! I need to know if she's the singer or not." Amanda stood and grabbed her cloak, stomping to the door.

"Where are you going?" the plump girl asked.

"To clear my head," she replied, her ears steaming.

In a moment she was through the door, slamming it behind her.

Constanz and Jasminka watched her go.

"Well," Jas started, "I hope she figures this all out."

Constanz looked at her and shrugged, shaking her head.

O/o\O

Flying freely for the first time in weeks was so exhilarating, damn the risk of being caught by Diana. Curfew had only just fallen by the time she reclaimed her broom from the PE lockers, so she wasn't entirely worried about the harpy Hall monitor of Luna Nova chasing her down right away.

The wind slammed in her face and howled in her ears and her hair spindled around her like fresh cinders on a summer's night. She dove low through clearings in the forest, inhaling the first drops of dew from the grass, and swung far into the clouds to feel the frost settle on her face, and when she was done with that she did another lap around the school for good measure.

And it was there, as she was doing a lazy pirouette around one of the dozen spires of the school, that she heard that lilting voice again drifting across the air, bobbing gently against her eardrum. In an instant Amanda was alert, holding up from her curled position like a prarrie dog in an effort to get a better read on the environment.

It rebounded from below, rattling high from a buttress far below.

Amanda angled down and began to descend towards the sound when she caught glimpse of another speck in the distance down below, a streak of gold and white glittering in the starlight.

"Diana..." Amanda growled, diving into a steeper angle.

Lotte or not, Amanda wasn't about to let little miss demerit diva get her hands on that haunting songstress.

With a rush, Amanda swooped into the outdoor hallway where the sound was originating from, directly in front of the platinum witch, slamming her feet right into the cobblestone as a stalwart barricade.

"O'Neill?!" Diana asked, her broom 'screeching' to a stop.

Amanda didn't respond, craning her neck to try and catch a glimpse of the singer. All she caught was a single glimpse of a tiny sihloette before she got a chance to speak.

"Go!" Amanda shouted, "I've got your back!"

The blackened form jolted, it's glimmering song ceasing as it turned and scurried down the hall.

"O'Neill!"

Amanda swallowed and turned back to the now incredibly cross Diathe

"Caven-fish," Amanda grunted.

"An associate of yours?" the platinum girl asked, narrowing her eyes. "I've been trying to track her down for the last five weeks."

The redhead rolled her eyes, "Leave her alone, and no, I'm more like a long-distance fan."

"I can't just let students ignore curfew," the prefect shot back, "Just like I can't ignore you breaking curfew like this again, Miss O'Neill. How does three demerits sound?"

Amanda's heart stopped. That was coming alarmingly close to suspension.

"Or," the American breathed slowly, "alternatively-and now just hear me out now..."

In a flesh Amanda had drawn her wand and summoned forth a burst of white light, blinding Diana as she kicked off the stone and rocketed off into the sky.

"O-O'Neill!?" Diana spluttered, "O'NEILL!"

O/o\O

Amanda was lucky that the following day that none of her classes converged with Diana's, meaning it was a reasonable assumption to believe that she wouldn't need to deal with the huffy prodigy until evening, when the platinum girl would have to personally come to green team's dorms to penalize her. Even then, there was a debate in Amanda's head whether or not Diana would bother considering the 'severity' of her offense.

Though that didn't mean her day was without something interesting.

"Wow Akko, you look like you got ambushed by an orc... What happened?" Amanda asked, sitting down across from the brunette at blue team's usual cafeteria table. She pointedly ignored how close this put her to Lotte, who was seated just next to the usually excitable team leader. If she had, maybe she would have noticed that Lotte too had bags under her eyes.

"It was a long night... I got lost in the woods while looking for this really rare flower..." Akko replied. Before Amanda could ask the inevitable followup question, the girl caught her curious stare and threw out a sheepish smile, "Makeup work for Magical Agriculture."

Amanda huffed and crossed her arms in solidarity, "Uhg, don't remind me about make up work. Arthurian History's been kicking my ass. Why couldn't we learn about something interesting like the Salem Coven or the Iroquois Spiritual Guides..."

"Because the world doesn't revolve around America..." came the dry response. Sucy, red team's resident potion whiz, was a very... monotone girl. In fact Amanda could probably count the number of times the desaturated witch had gotten excited over anything _not_ mushroom related on one hand.

Amanda huffed at the accusation, but doubled down on her homeland pride, "Well it should. Kicked England's can like four times over and all the witches think it's still it's a magical hotspot worth talking about."

"Normally I'd agree wit you, but honestly I've learned the hard way that culture doesn't play well with the grannies of the magic world, " Akko sighed, "It'd be REALLY nice to learn something about Japanese magic but I've had to study that on my own when I go back during holidays and breaks... And I really suck at studying alone..." The brunette dropped her head to the table with a groan.

Lotte patted the girl on the back, "You're not too bad at it Akko. I mean, look how much your grades have improved recently, you've been doing really well on your own."

Akko just sighed and rolled her head. It was an unusual reaction from the normally excitable brunette, who would leap at any praise thrown her way, but Amanda shrugged, chalking it up to either her exhaustion or weight of the actual work that went behind earning that praise.

"Good for her; doesn't exactly dig me out of my rut though..." Amanda huffed, scratching her head.

"Um..." Lotte started, turning away fro her team leader, "Well... If you need a tutor, I'm pretty familiar with Arthurian History..."

Amanda blinked. She blinked twice more, "Uh, run that by me again?"

"Oh yeah!" Akko smiled, popping up from the table, "Lotte's a genius with that stuff, she's gotten As on all of her history tests!"

"Ak-kko..." Lotte meeped, blushing.

"It's only because she reads all of those historical romance novels while waiting for the next volume of Nightfall," Sucy added, blinking her one exposed eye listlessly.

"S-Sucy!" the blonde balked, her face going crimson.

But just as Lotte was recovering from the embarrassment, reeling back from the table, Amanda launched forward and captured the bookworm's hands.

"Please!" Amanda cried, gripping onto those soft, soft fingers like her life depended on it, "Tutor me please!"

Lotte's already flush face ignited like the sun, making her glow in contrast to the shady cafeteria.

"Ah..." the nebbish girl stammered. She hopped forward and entrusted her hands to Amanda, "Y-yes! Of course I will! I already offered, didn't I?"

Amanda grinned, beaming and white, "You're the best, Lotte!"

Lotte nodded with a quiet, affirmative grunt, her face unable to get any warmer. It was then that Amanda realized she was still holding her desperate grip on the nerdy girl's hands.

"Oh, sorry..." the redhead apologized, blushing for herself.

"N-no problem," Lotte eeked out.

An uneasy silence fell on the table, broken only by the steady rhythm of Jasminka's chewing.

"S-s-so," Amanda started, "when should we start?"

O/o\O

"So wait, Lancelot doesn't exist?" Amanda asked, pointing her plastic fork at Lotte.

The blonde shook her head, directing Amanda's attention to the last paragraph of the page, "No, be was created by Chrétien de Troyes when he began writing fictional stories about Arthur."

"Damn... So wait, who did Guinevere cheat on Arthur with?"

"No one," Lotte replied, "There are historical indications of a knight on the round table who was close friends with her, most likely one of the inspirations for Lancelot, but no affair has ever been confirmed, sadly."

"Tch," Amanda leaned back in the creaky library chair, arms crossed, "and there goes one of the onky things I know about Arthurian Lore..."

Amanda wouldn't say it was a struggle working with Lotte; to the contrary, it was actually kinda fun learning history with the girl. But the material they were working from.. THAT needed every bit of punch it could get, and after four days of studying Amanda was reaching for factoids to keep her interest... And reaching for that little bit of courage needed to ask about Lotte's singing.

"Well, at the very least it's not as sad a story in the end. If I had someone like Guinevere I'd be pissed to learn she cheated on me... and probably pretty hurt too..." Amanda muttered, more thinking out loud than anything else. "Good to know Arthur's wife was loyal."

"Oh yes, very loyal," Lotte nodded, smiling, "by all records she was loved by all of their subjects as well. A beloved king and queen, if not a little bland in their romance..."

"I mean, bland, sure," Amanda agreed, "but it's still kinda sweet. The idea of arranged marriages always scared me. The fact that she was so sweet on him... He's a lucky guy..."

"It almost sounds like you envy him," Lotte noted, confusion crawling onto her face.

"I mean, yeah, I can only hope to have a girl that nice in the future..." the redhead shrugged.

Lotte paused before recoiling a fraction in her seat, rolling into herself and shifting side to side uncomfortably, "Oh... So does that mean yo-you're...?"

"I'm gay, yeah," Amanda confirmed, her voice relaxed. It was only when she caught sight of Lotte's uneasy fidgeting that she started to take on a more embarrassed edge, "I mean, uh, I swing both ways... I'm technically bi, or something, but I like girls. A lot." The statement ended as lamely as she had thought it would and it did nothing to put the smaller girl at ease. "Does... Does that bother you?"

"N-no!" Lotte popped. "It's not really all that normal in Finland, I guess I'm just not very used to the idea... I've never met someone like... like you."

"Oh, I-uh, I see..." Amanda stuttered back, red coloring her cheeks. "So then you're straight?"

"I don't know," the blonde replied, almost too quickly. "I... I haven't really thought about it, to be honest. I usually like reading about romance, but to actually have a boyfriend," the bookworm flushed, "or a girlfriend..." The flush became incidiary.

"Ah, gatchya... I mean, that's fine, there's no rush to find out, right?" the American remarked, somewhat biting herself for how that came out. It wasn't that she wanted to radiate interest in the girl; Amanda was still unsure of her own feelings and she got the impression that being forward at the wrong time would only scare Lotte off. But she also didn't want to give the impressions she _wasn't_ interested either, and a 'take your time' message seemed way too safe to not be taken that way.

"Thanks, Amanda," Lotte sighed, her shoulders sagging to a more comfortable position.

"No prob, Lotte," Amanda smiled back, though she felt it may have been undercut by the roiling set of conflicted emotions just beneath her skin.

"S-so, where were we?" Lotte asked, looking back to her notes.

"Ah, right, the myths surrounding Guinevere..." Amanda scrambled, flipping through the pages.

"Ah, right, so on the note of the Lancelot affair, there were the numerous rumors surrounding Mordred..."

O/o\O

The next two weeks were filled with sessions like that, interspersed with the occasional near-miss running into Diana. There were only a few classes each week that the two crossed paths, and Amanda had narrowly dodged a confrontation each time. Oddly enough it kinda felt like Akko was running interference for her, ducking in front of the silver prefect and distracting her so the redhead could escape. If it was true, she was thankful; despite what seemed like a recent cool down, Akko and Diana had spent the entire semester attempting to verbally strangle each other. So if Akko was willing to throw herself in harm's way like that, Amanda seriously needed to do some reevaluations of her ditzy friend. Or it could have been coincidence and Akko was just being an idiot tempting fate. Both were equally plausible.

But with so much time passing thoughts about Lotte's singing had sunk to the bottom of her priorities, especially with the tutoring lessons starting to take precedence.

That was why, when running late to lunch at the cafeteria with her friends, Amanda was shocked to hear the familiar melody drifting in from across the hall.

In a flash, her growling stomach forgotten, Amanda kicked off from her team, dashing right to the courtyard where the enticing sound was coming from. She vaguely registered Jasminka calling out in confusion after her and was completely unable to see the eyeroll tossed at her by Constanz.

She bolted out the door, heart pounding as the gorgeous lilt rolled into her ears ever louder than before. With her arm pinning the oaken entrance open, she scanned the yard, finding without any effort the target of her search.

Lotte, shocked, was staring at her from the lip of the fountain, blue eyes filling the whites within her glasses. Around her was a little crowd of sprites and spirits, all standing stock still in surprise, starring at her with eyes wide in panic.

"It _was_ you!"

"Amanda?!"

A beat of silence passed between them. The next minute was filled with scrambling sprites and a panicking bookworm all trying to scurry around the fountain and out of sight. A voice, however, prevented the nebbish girl from going any further.

"Lotte, wait, don't run!"

Lotte froze, bent at an odd lean as she curved around the basin. She and Amanda locked eyes frightened sapphire meeting determined emerald. Lotte's throat seemed to tighten.

"This whole time... I... I thought it might have been you singing, but I couldn't know for sure..."

"I, uh, well, you see, A-Amanda-"

Lotte's fidgeting was cut short by a third voice, this one sending Amanda's heart right into the freezing lakes of hell.

"Well, that solves that mystery, doesn't it?" Diana nodded, stepping out from behind Amanda. The redhead recoiled deeper into the courtyard, away from the prodigy.

"Cavendish, what the hell are you doing here?" Amanda snarled.

"Following that voice, much like you, I would assume," Diana explained. "Now that I've confirmed my suspicions, Miss Yanson, I'm afraid I must inform you that due to violating curfew you have racked up quite a number of demerits, I expect enough for a few detentions."

Lotte paled, her hands trembling. While Akko was regularly dragging Lotte and Sucy into her own crash schemes, the punishment board were typically wise enough not to hold it against the two, considering they were often just as much victim to the brunette's shenanigans as everyone else. It was rare that Lotte herself was directly reprimanded, so much so that even Amanda knew that the blonde being punished was beyond surreal.

"Hey! Lay off Diana!" the American shouted.

Diana's laser-focused gaze zeroed in on Amanda, "What she's going to go through is nothing compared to you, O'Neill. With that stunt you pulled two weeks ago you'll be lucky not to be expelled."

The redhead grimmaced, biting her cheek to keep from lashing out.

"D-Diana, d-d-don't do that to Amanda, she was just doing it to protect me!" Lotte pleaded, catchign both of the obstinate girls off guard. The blonde continued, gripping her collar, "If you want to punish someone for that then punish me instead!"

Amanda turned to balk at the girl, "Lotte? N-no, don't!" She wheeled around to glare at Diana, "Don't you dare punish Lotte for her singing, or I swear on my mother's grave I'll bury you. Hell, double my punishments and let Lotte go free! I'm the one who pissed you off!"

Diana blinked, genuinely surprised at the two equally vehement reactions.

"I... I'm sorry, but these punishments cannot be diverted or divided, and ultimately it will be up to the headmistress to oversee what recompense you are to receive for breaking the rules," Diana elaborated, her eyes steeling after a second of baffled recuperation.

And then the situation became infinitely more complicated when Akko burst through the door behind the silver girl.

"Guys, I heard yelling, what's going on?!" the brunette huffed, out of breath.

Diana blinked once, glancing at the ditz before refocusing on Amanda, "This doesn't concern you Akko."

Amanda sneered, "Like hell it doesn't! Lotte's one of her teammates, Akko has full rights to intervene on Lotte's behalf!"

"That's not how Luna Nova operates, O'Neill," Diana corrected, "Student discipline does not need to trouble the entire team!"

"Really now?!" Amanda shot back, "I'm not even her teammate and _I'm_ troubled by it for sure!"

Diana's eye twitched, "Your concerns are no concern of mine, Amanda. You may feel as you wish, but arguing with me will only land yourself in deeper waters."

"Diana..." Akko muttered, her words seemingly missing some of that jubilant spark.

The silver witch turned to her peer, eyes unreadable but her voice was soft, "Please do not interfere Akko."

"Or course you don't care what any of us feel. Woe would you to have actually grown a heart and care for any of us right now," Amanda shot back, crossing her arms.

Diana returned it with a razoring glare, "Granting special permissions to my friends would be an abuse of power!"

"Oh!" Amanda shouted, "Now we're all friends, huh? After being such a crotchety bitch about this, I don't think any of us would want to be friends with you!"

"Th-that's not..." Akko whimpered out. The girl was fidgeting rather quickly in her spot, clearly uncomfortable being caught just on the edge of the crossfire.

"We've been through so many problems together in the last three years as allies and friends and you want to shirk that all over a simple attempt to keep order?"

"Lotta good it's done me at this point; if it's not getting me any respect from you, why bother being friends?!"

"Amanda, Diana, please, stop!" Akko shouted, holding her chest.

"If you won't listen to reason then maybe suggesting suspension will catch your ear," Diana seethed.

"Diana, please, everyone, calm down, this is all being blown out of proportion!" Lotte cried.

Amanda reaxhd in front of Lotte, a gesture that could be easily read as an order to stand down, "Don't give in just because she's a little threatening, Lotte. If Diana wants to burn her bridges, she's more than welcome to."

"If a bridge starts to burn look to who was handling the torches," Diana hissed, flicking her wand towards Amanda, "You knew perfectly well the punishment for violating curfew and instead of heeding it you doubled down with a case of assault!"

"You were going to punish Lotte for singing!"

"Curfew! For violating curfew!"

"Please, Diana," Lotte pleaded, "it was just a small distraction, let Amanda go without demerits!"

Diana gripped her nose, composure finally collapsing. She raised her voice, "What did I just say about being a fasciltator of nepotism?! Friends don't get special privledge!"

"You need friends in the first place to do that!" Amanda shouted. "Your two groupies don't count!"

"She has friends, you jerk!"

The heated argument froze over, all eyes falling to the source of the outburst: Atsuko Kagari.

"Akko...?" Amanda asked, somewhat at a loss with the sudden, vehement defense of the priss.

Diana's eyes narrowed, oceanic orbs dancing warily over the brunette's form, "Akko?"

The girl's eyes were drawn to the side, her teeth grit with frustration. She looked up, glaring at Amanda and demanding, "Stop saying Diana doesn't have friends!" Her eyes closed during the bark, the frown on her face deepening as she reopened them. She pointed to the blue team leader, other hand on her chest, "This entire time you kept saying she doesn't have friends, but what about me, huh? What if I say I'm Diana's friend? What if I say I'm more than just Diana's friend? What would you say then, Amanda?"

The redhead blinked, completely at a loss, "Uh… I don't kno-So wait, are you saying you're her best friend or something…?"

Akko ground her teeth and pinched the tips of her eyebrows. "Yes… No…. Gah! Screw it!" she threw her hands up and stomped over the prefect, who recoiled only so far in mild confusion.

Amanda did a double-take; she must have been more tired than she thought, because her eyes were playing tricks on her. It had looked like Akko kissed Diana. After wiping her eyes, reality seemed to kick back to normal, with Diana and Akko an uncomfortable but logical distance apart.

But, with the silence that carried over the yard, it began to register to Amanda that perhaps her mind hadn't played any tricks on her.

"A-Ak-ko!" Diana sputtered, pushing the brunette back. Akko held Diana tightly, however, and the push did little to separate the two. Feebly the prodigy tried to wiggle out of the Japanese girl's grasp, only to eventually give up and resign to merely turning away in the grip. "Akko… please… we… we talked about this…" she muttered quietly, her face going completely red.

"They were going to find out sometime…" Akko sighed, a little louder than the girl in her arms, "We might as well do it under our terms _and_ solve a problem while we're at it…"

"You mean under _your_ terms," Diana growled weakly.

Akko smiled sheepishly, "Well, I mean, there are worse ways for people to find out…"

Amanda rubbed her eyes again, "Um… excuse me, uh… do either of you mind explaining why my brain is overloading right now? Weren't you two trying to gut each other just the other day?"

Diana sighed and finally broke free of Akko's hold, rubbing her temple, "An act… to keep up appearances…" Almost reflexively she glanced around the courtyard, inspecting every window to make sure that only those already present were the _only_ witness to what had just occurred. Satisfied, she crossed her arms and bit her lip, "Akko and I actually… we… concluded our hostilities about two months ago… When we both realized that…. There was a… That we…"

"That we're in love," Akko cheered, bobbing up in place besides the silver girl and cuddling into her side.

Diana turned a deep scarlet, shrinking into herself, "You say that with such abandon…"

"Okay… well… uh… right then…" Amanda stuttered, her aggressive stance melting, "Then… I guess I take back what I said about you Cavendish… Sorry…" In a blink, however, she remembered the reason the fight had begun in the first place, "But that doesn't mean I'm okay with you punishing Lotte because of me! Keep her record spotless!"

"It's… not really spotless…" Lotte muttered, rubbing the toes of her shoes together.

"Then you should have thought of that before either of you were so flippant with the rules of the school," Diana huffed.

It was then that Akko pinched the girl's elbow causing, for one of the very rare times, her facial composure to break, a disappointed and almost chided frown dropping to her lips. She looked to Akko who had her arms crossed and eyes closed, one hand well poised to grasp at her arm at any moment. The brunette's eyes were closed and even Amanda could read the signal of a girlfriend putting her foot down.

Diana sighed, "Alright… Alright… I'll… How about a compromise; a week of minimal chores and neither of you get demerits on your record. Would that be… more agreeable?"

Amanda relaxed a bit, the unease still settling poorly in her stomach, but she considered the alternative. She shrugged, "Alright, I guess that's doable… Figures you probably have to punish us somehow… That is, if Lotte's alright with it."

Lotte looked between the three and nodded, her glasses actually sliding forward a bit letting Amanda catch a glimpse of those absolutely gorgeous sky-blue eyes that were usually so shrunk by the panes of glass. It took all her effort not to stare and she refused the urge to swallow as her heart kicked into higher gear.

"Well then…" Diana nodded, "If we have an accords, I'll go have a word with the Headmistress and have all of these matters squared away." The silver girl walked to the door and paused, glaring back at all those present, save Akko, "And if any of you speak a word of what happened here to _anyone_ , you can expect this olive branch to be the kindling that burns our bridges, am I being absolutely clear?"

Amanda nodded, feeling that overbearing gaze waft over her. Not that she'd admit it, but Diana could be absolutely chilling when she wanted to be.

"So… Two months, huh…?" Amanda asked, looking to Akko. The brunette seemed rather pleased with the outcome of the confrontation. It was only after Amanda asked her second question that she became flustered; "So, on a scale of one-to-ten… how're the make out sessions?"

O/o\O

"Well… This isn't so bad…" Amanda grumbled, folding a well-dried shirt.

Lotte smiled from her stool, positioned just a foot away as she went folded her own set of clothing, "It certainly helps my friends were willing to lend a hand." The blonde nodded to a series of sprites, so of whom Amanda had seen present at the Finn's previous performance, all working in tandem to wash and dry the bulk of Luna Nova's laundry reserves.

"I suppose being friends with the sprites really pays off," Amanda smiled.

"Well, I mean, they feel a bit guilty since I was singing for them, after all…" Lotte nodded, her face growing a bit more dour. "Just wish none of us had to be here doing this right about now. I feel bad that they even volunteered."

A pixie drifted by and dropped a set of skirts in Amanda's pile, making the American groan internally. She bit the inside of her lip and picked up the first folds of fabric, beginning to carefully parse and fold them.

"Well… I could see why it'd be worth it…" Amanda hummed. Some words locked themselves in her throat before she managed to squeeze them out completely, her cheeks dusting pink, "I mean, you're voice is beautiful, Lotte."

Lotte paused, looking up at the redhead with a sheepish smile, "I… I mean, I suppose." She returned to folding, "I… never knew I had an audience other than the sprites before. Performing in front of other people is so nerve-wracking."

Amanda craned her neck towards the ceiling, "You should really be more confident; you sound like a friggen' angel."

The Finn blushed, trying to hide herself in her robe, "I don't know… Even at the festival it was hard because of all the attention. It's… overwhelming. It's why I never became the writer for Nightfall; too much pressure…"

The redhead blinked, "Wait, you could've been the writer for Nightfall?"

Lotte nodded, "Yes, yes. It was a big misunderstanding though, and I'd rather read it than write it… Are you a fan?"

"Not really…" Amanda replied, shaking her head, "though, recently, I've been considering picking it up. Not really much of a book person, y'know?"

"N-not, really," Lotte stuttered, " _You're_ more of the confident type. I… You didn't know who I was, right? Back when Diana caught us?"

"I had my suspicions," Amanda replied, rubbing her neck. A flame spirit accidentally fell in a bucket of water somewhere down the sprite production line, sending a small cavalcade of them into a panic to drag him out. The two watched with mild amusement as the sprite was safely dragged from the water and given a blanket which quite quickly burst into cinders. "But no, I didn't know for sure."

"See, you're really brave, Amanda… I don't have that…" Lotte sighed. She turned and smiled, though, blue eyes hanging majestically in their cradles, "I don't need to, though; if I was confident like you I wouldn't be me, now would I?"

Amanda chuckled, rubbing her nose, "That's one way to look at it, I guess."

Quiet settled between them.

The two took a break from folding shortly thereafter, deciding to sit on the stools mirroring each other and just lounging for a short minute.

"Thank you. For stopping Diana that one night," Lotte mumbled, picking at the splintering wood on her stool.

Amanda smiled, "Thanks for standing up for me against her in the courtyard."

"I couldn't let my hero get in trouble," Lotte grinned.

The redhead shook her head, "And I couldn't let an angel get caged. Let's call it even."

Lotte nodded, though blushed at the momentary nickname.

Another quiet, and Amanda started to fidget, her chest tightening as more unsaid words began to bubble to the surface.

"Hey… Lotte… would… would you like to maybe… go out some time? Like, just me and you…?" Amanda asked, pulling on one of her thumbs, "Like, maybe… like a date?"

Lotte blinked, hands falling to either side of the stool for support. It took her a moment, but she recomposed herself and finally replied, "Um... I'm... I'm sorry, but I already have a lot going on with school and finals... So..."

"Oh...!" Amanda balked. Her face fell in the following seconds, "Oh..."

"B-but after that..." Lotte said, resting her palms on her knees, "If-f you still wanted to... And-and, I would really like to get to know you better... And the study sessions, we can keep doing those!"

"Uh..." the redhead nodded. She jutted forward and nodded repeatedly, giving her a moment of completely ignored whiplash, "Y-yeah, I'm totally on board for that!"

"Good!" Lotte said, perking up, and smiling, "I… I'd like all that, too, I think. I mean, there's this boy that I… but…" The Finn bit her lip and shook her head, looking right at Amanda, "That… I'll talk to him later… I need to sort my thoughts about that… but… I like you, too… I think…"

"Really?!" Amanda jolted up straight. She swallowed and combed her fingers through her hair, chuckling in order to regain some sense of 'cool' to her composure. She coughed into her hand, and more calmly "Really?"

Lotte nodded, leaning back on the seat. She played with her fingers, looking to the side, "A-and... Uh... If you want to hear me sing... I, um... Maybe soon, I will for... For you..."

With the way the blonde rubbed her toes together, Amanda felt her heart slam against her ribcage, so much so that she almost had to clutch the damned thing to keep it from hopping out of her chest.

Lotte's blush was adorable.

Her fidgeting was adorable.

And her voice was still completely enchanting.

As the heat crawled to Amanda's face, she knew that this girl had already stolen her heart.

O/o\O

 _There wasn't enough Amanda/Lotte in this fandom for my tastes. I crave that hot-head attracted to the shy girl. I mean, seriously, my two favorite ships in LWA are great mirrors for my favorite RWBY ships. You've got Ruby(Akko)/Weiss(Diana) and Blake(Lotte)/Yang(Amanda), but in LWA every character is actually competently written, has clearly defined motives and backstories that I can build from instead of stabbing in the dark!_

 _I don't feel so satisfied with this. Again, I wrote this during break at work on a tablet, so getting the full picture as I normally do with my other writings is a little trickier. I feel it's a little long in places, and I'm not sure how to tweak it without the order of events stretching inappropriately. That said, I'm actually pretty happy with the very ending bit, which arguably has the most important interaction in the whole piece… So some personal good, some personal bad._

 _Here's hoping you all enjoyed!_

 _A friendly reminder though to all the good people out there that my P-a-t-r-e-o-n is still active and I appreciate any support! Just look up_ CelticPhoenix _and you should find me. Look! I even fixed the name! You could also look up Raymond McNeil on P-a-t-r-e-o-n, as apparently CelticPhoenix doesn't necessarily show up in the search for some reason._

 _ **Special Thanks**_ _to the Patrons that made this story possible: Jonathan Mott, Tyler Simpson, Ciara J.D., Theodotus Amos Scheer, CEGold, MorosePotato, Ben L., and Adam._

 _Also a reminder that commissions are open and will continue to be! I'm always eager to write more for people, so don't be afraid to shoot me a message or an email asking about fandoms, prices and concepts!_

 _This will probably be my last fanfic for a little while, what with focusing on YouTube (Celtic Phoenix Productions) and focusing on my own personal writings, but if I get the craving or a commission, I'll be back in a flash!_

 _Thanks for reading everyone! Catch ya on the flipside!_


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